Orchard Park, N.Y. — Buffalo Bills left tackle Dion Dawkins is the longest tenured offensive player on the roster.
So, when 22-year-old receiver Keon Coleman was late for a team meeting on Friday and was benched on Sunday, Dawkins pulled his teammate aside.
“Keon knows now he’s in the hot seat and he needs to come on and show up for it,” Dawkins said. “Pats on the back are over with and it’s time for him to grow up and he knows it.”
The Bills went into battle against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers without Coleman, who was disciplined for the third time because of tardiness to a team meeting. The 22-year-old was benched for one drive against the New England Patriots earlier this season and for a quarter last season against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Coleman’s absence allowed the Bills to elevate veteran receiver Gabe Davis off the practice squad and activate brand new receiver Mecole Hardman, who joined the team earlier this week. Davis caught three passes for 40 yards and Hardman helped ignite Buffalo’s return game when he broke a 61-yard kickoff return in the first quarter of its 44-32 win over the Buccaneers.
Coleman spoke to reporters for a few minutes outside of the locker room after the game. He said he must be better moving forward.
“You can’t keep doing--you can’t make those types of mistakes,” he said. “You’re a professional.”
Coleman was asked if it was difficult to watch his team from the sidelines.
“I wouldn’t say it’s difficult; It’s disappointing,” Coleman said. “But when you understand what result, like, what happened to make that happen, then you get it. So you just got to be proud of your teammates and root for them.”
The Bills’ offense exploded against the Buccaneers after a slow start that included a pair of Josh Allen interceptions in the first half. After going three and out to start the third quarter, Allen orchestrated four straight scoring drives (with three touchdowns) to put the game away.
Without Coleman, the Bills’ offense found its passing game, which went over 300 yards for the first time since the opener against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 1. Coleman doesn’t know if he’ll be back next week against the Houston Texans, but Bills coach Sean McDermott will have an interesting decision this week. Veteran receiver Curtis Samuel made several big plays in the game, and former undrafted free agent Tyrell Shavers had his best performance as a pro. Shavers led all receivers with 90 yards and was on the receiving end of one of Allen’s three passing touchdowns.
McDermott said after the game that Coleman’s situation was disappointing but that he still believes in the former second-round pick. He said that he uses a strike system to give players a chance to learn from their mistakes. When Coleman was late again for a meeting, the punishment was harsher from McDermott, who collected his 100th career NFL win on Sunday.
“You get a chance to show your teammates that’s not really who you are,” McDermott said. “And then, when it happens again, then I step in. So, I believe he will learn from it. He takes it seriously and he will move forward in a way of growing from this and that’s the whole goal.”
Dawkins told Coleman not to worry about how the situation transpired and that everybody has their own journey.
“Nobody’s perfect but in this league, we need guys to come on,” Dawkins said. “As an older player on the team, we hold everybody accountable, and we shoot straight. We don’t sugarcoat it and words were said to him and he took it well. We’ll see how it goes this week.”
Dawkins is pulling for his teammate.
“I’m in Keon’s corner, man,” he said. “This league is hard, being on time is hard, being great is hard, pushing for greatness is hard. We got his back but the time is now.”
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